Its a bird ..its a plane ..no its a DREAM...!!!

Aeroplanes, helicopters, jets, Air Force …. What’s special in all these words? Don’t know about you but they surely gets me excited. I think I m not alone when I say that once I wanted to be a fighter pilot. This is a dream which every young boy grows up with. We all used to run to roof tops or outside just in the hope to get a glimpse of that flying metal bird, an ultimate feat of engineering. Ever thought why there is such level of excitement with anything related to flying? Why every young boy is goaded by that desire of one day donning that impeccable Air Force uniform? What I think of as a reasonable explanation is the desire to have something which you don’t have or explore the territory you haven’t ventured into yet, and that desire, I think is strongest when you are young. You always want that elusive toy which daily mocks you from that road side gift shop. But why so much fascination for planes and flying , clueless. Maybe flying high away from everyone signifies freedom and who doesn’t want freedom from one’s daily routine and this sopor. Soaring high away from everyone, away from all worries, to break free of all inhibitions as if in a dream… wow.. really want to experience that at least once, and that’s why I wanna give a shot at sky diving, to feel that rush and that cool wind on my face.. Coming back to planes and the fascination which they brings along, well we all have been on planes and first plane ride is always special. Though I don’t remember my first but I am pretty sure that I was excited as anything. To sit on the back of that metal bird and to view the world from up there through that small window was really some view and that adrenaline rush when it starts its run down that runway or when it gallops while landing, its like a roller coaster but way too expansive… But that thrill and excitement slowly but surely is dying out and now the condition is such that I no more like travelling by air. The only thing that I like about air travel is the beginning and the climax of the journey, when plane takes off and when it touch down… why so … well so many reasons … to name a few … once you are up there you don’t feel anything … not even the high speed you are travelling at… you can’t see anything out of the window coz you are so high up there that nothing apart from blue sky or white clouds are visible.. though that view is also terrific but you don’t feel it coz you are confined in that metallic body.. secondly when they say it's an airbus then they are not kidding and are 100% correct while calling it that. It really is a bus as the seats in the economy class are so very congested that even Volvo buses are far better when it comes to comfort and ease and to top it all even the air hostesses are not good these days :P … the only advantage and major plus point in favor of air travel is time saving factor. But if I am on a trip and time is not a constraint for me then I’ll prefer travel by train rather than flying overhead. For me the best part of any trip or excursion is the journey and the travelling you do to reach your destination. The places you pass through and scenic beauty you witness, you can’t experience all that from up there in that 2-3 hours of flight. You live through a journey and all that is an integral part of any trip.

But say whatever, fascination with those flying object still remains as such. Still by no effort of mine, my eyes on their own accord start searching that great blue canopy wherever I hear a plane flying by and it is a must in case of a jet. As human nature is I still haven’t had the experience to feel the thrust of a jet, so obviously I still feel that child like curiosity to watch that flying destroyer soar up in the sky and leave that white trail behind. I was really fascinated when I saw sukhoi fighter jets stationed at Pune airport. Though I was a little disappointed as they were nothing like I imagined, and were very tiny… but the sound they made once brought to life was something I never experienced before, such reverberating sound that even glasses of Pune airport were shaking and once when I was returning from Delhi, two sukhoi landed right after my flight and there was that boom again. Mind you even commercial flights make quite a lot of noise, after all they are also AIRBUS but even that was just a squeak in front of those roaring engines and as they touched down their parachutes fluttered from their back and I was glued to my window with both hands and nose pressed hard against the glass trying desperately to have a last glimpse of those smart machines. So my love affair with those Identified Flying Objects continues. I hope that one day I’ll get that opportunity to appreciate their beauty and power from close range and they live up to my expectations and this relation doesn’t have the sour ending like the one I had with their other cousin.

Cheers

RJ